


Snow Angels

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-01
Updated: 2005-11-17
Packaged: 2019-01-19 07:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12405582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Lily Evans and James Potter are finally going out. What will a Christmas break at the Potters’ mansion do to the newly established couple, though? Can they survive everything that the holiday season throws them… which of course includes a certain Mr. Sirius Black?





	1. Gotta Love that Spit

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**A/N** : Okay, first off, this was originally going to be a one-shot, but then I got way too into it. So it is now going to have chapters and what not. Please give me your honest opinion on the start of it and review. Two things before you read, I have nothing against second honeymoons. I would personally love to go on a second honeymoon… that is after I get married and go on my first one… uh, first. I just wanted to show that Lily was kind of annoyed by the whole idea. Secondly, I want everyone to keep in mind that wives in the 70s were not known as working mothers and all that good shizz. They were normally housewives so I don’t want anyone getting mad over that either. This has become one of my big projects and it is kind of slow coming, but fun to write all the same. Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated! So just sit back, relax, and uh, read. SMOOCHES!

 

**Summary** : Lily Evans and James Potter are finally going out. What will a Christmas break at the Potters’ mansion do to the newly established couple, though? Can they survive everything that the holiday season throws them… which includes a certain Mr. Sirius Black.

 

**Disclaimer** : I pretty much own squat.

Chapter One: **Gotta Love that Spit**  


“SIRIUS BLOODY BLACK, GET YOUR BLOODY ARSE BACK HERE, YOU BLOODY PRAT!”�

            Lily Evans sighs contentedly to the sweet, melodic tones of her boyfriend of now two months ‘talking’ with his best friend on the Hogwarts Express on the way home for Christmas break. Ah, Christmas. A time of Tiny Tims and mistletoe.  A time when families get together and celebrate the love within each other.  ‘Tis the season to be jolly.  Fa la la la la la la la la.  Yes, Christmas is one of the best times of the year.  And this year, Lily will be spending the entire holiday with her previously mentioned boyfriend, James Potter, and his family. 

Oh, yeah. And Sirius Black.  But that’s a completely different story.

Anyways, Lily Evans has been looking forward/ dreading this particular Christmas since her parents told her that they decided to go on a second honeymoon to Aruba this holiday season. Not kidding. A second honeymoon. Who goes on a second honeymoon? I mean honestly! Wasn’t the first one enough for you people? Then again, second honeymoons are a good opportunity for those crazy people who decide to take one to give their beautiful, redheaded daughters nice presents. So after some thought, Lily decided that it was okay for her parents to go on this ludicrous trip.  Especially after James instantly offered his “humble home”� as an alternative for Lily when he heard the news.  And Lily, having nowhere else to go and being the optimistic young girl she is, accepted James’ proposal and started preparing to meet the famous Potter family.

Yes, famous.  The Potter family is one of the oldest, well-respected, and not to mention, richest pureblood families left in the wizarding world.  Mr. David Potter is known to be one of the best aurors to ever live.  He, single-handedly, reconstructed a village of poor wizard families after they were attacked by Dark Arts extremists. He is best friends with _the_ Albus Dumbledore and is said to be a dead-ringer for the next minister of magic.  

Mrs. Catherine Potter is what every wife strives to be.  She’s smart, beautiful, compassionate, helpful, strong, and is known to give to the iciest glares to anyone who gets on her nerves.  James and David both have admitted to being on the receiving end of those looks and they say it could freeze your insides if you don’t look away in enough time.  There’s a theory that Sirius was given one of those glares and he didn’t look away in time which explains why his brain is no longer fully functional. It is one of the many theories on the mystery that is Sirius Black, but again, that’s a WHOLE different story.

Moving back on track, Lily Evans has every right to feel apprehensive.  This is a BIG deal for her. Not only will she be meeting the people who could someday become her in-laws (or so James says) but she is also meeting two of the most important and influential people in the entire magical community.  Fine. She is down right scared out of her mind.  What if they think that she is too stuffy or brainy? What if they like more daring and outgoing people in their company? What if she says or does the wrong thing? What if they think she looks like a diseased twig with a green fungus and a used tampon on top (something her sister, Petunia, often compares her to)? What if they don’t like…

“Lily. Light of my heart, sparkle in my eyes, twinkle in my toes-- You look as though you just saw Snape starkers. You have nothing to be nervous about. They will absolutely adore you. Trust me.”�

Ah, amore. It is a crazy thing. One minute Lily is having a complete mental breakdown, the next she is completely comforted and calm with just a few words from her beau’s mouth. Not to mention, it’s a very nice mouth. One that has a beautiful full lower lip and a skinnier more defined upper lip. One that kisses with such great passion and care that Lily feels she could die on those lips and be the happiest girl alive… or technically dead. Whatever. Lips that murmur sweet nothings in her ear during classes when she’s supposed to be taking notes. Lips that nibble lightly while…

“Lily dear, are you alright? You’re still looking a bit peaky”� comes the concerned voice of the owner of the aforementioned luscious, delicious, kissable, tempting, gorgeous… well, the lips discussed previously, after Lily let out an involuntary sigh.  

“I’m fine, James. Just thinking”� Lily answers giving James a soft kiss on the cheek.

“Awww, how absolutely, sickeningly sweet”� comes the obnoxious voice of Sirius Black. “I think I might just vomit.”�

“How many times do I have to tell you to bugger off, Padfoot”� retorts an annoyed James.

“Prongs! You wound me with your words! They slash my poor and fragile heart as though you took a blade and, well, slashed my heart!”� Sirius says rather lamely. 

“Padfoot, you know he’s right when he says you’re rather annoying”� Remus Lupin speaks up for the first time the entire train ride.

Lily can’t keep a smile from creeping up on her face. She is still in awe while watching the Marauders that she is actually dating one of them.  And James no less!  We will not go into the long and rather redundant and clichéd tale of how Lily and James came to be Lily _and_ James. But we will just say that they had previously been sworn enemies in school and it took a bowl of pudding, a lawn mower, and a bottle of fabric softener for them to realize their deep passion for one another. Sirius still claims that it is because of him that they are together because it was one of his crazy pranks that all of those items were involved in. But really all that matters is that they are together and plan on staying together for quite a long time. 

By the time Lily comes out of her little dream world, Sirius has Remus in a headlock on the floor, Peter is in the corner of the compartment shaking like a leaf in fear that he will be the next victim of Sirius’ wrath, and James is just looking at Lily with a slightly bemused expression on his face. 

“What?”� Lily asks rather indignantly. “Is there something on my face?”�

“No,”� James starts with that familiar mischievous glint in his hazel eyes, “But there is now.”�

And with that, James practically jumps on his girlfriend and starts planting wet, sloppy kisses all over her face.

“James!!!”� Lily shrieks with fake disgust. She of course was secretly enjoying this immensely. Who wouldn’t enjoy James Potter smacking dozens of kisses all over her face?

Sirius and Remus break apart at the sound of Lily’s shriek. Remus rubs the back of his neck from the pain that Sirius inflicted and just shakes his head in an amused way at his best friend and his best girl friend. Sirius, however, does not see the fairness that James gets all the perks of having a girl in the compartment. After all, he let Lily in there too, right? So naturally, he should have some kind of bonus for his very unselfish act. So in true Sirius fashion, he stands up, throws James off of Lily and continues what James started.

“Sirius! Get your gross lips off of me, you bloody wanker!”�

By this point, Remus is rolling on the floor and howling in laughter. His sides hurt from laughing so hard. James is still kind of confused on the sudden change in situation and is looking at Sirius and Lily in a mystified sort of way. He looks like he doesn’t understand how one minute he was showering his girlfriend with kisses and the next he is watching his best friend do just that.  Peter is still in the corner of the little room staying away from confrontation, the little coward. 

James finally seems to be brought back to earth with the loud, messy sounds of Sirius’ lips smacking on his girlfriend’s skin. He lunges at his best friend and wrestles him to the ground. Lily sits up and wipes off all of Sirius’s slobber. 

“Absolutely disgusting,”� Lily murmurs under her breath.

“I can imagine”� Remus responds while he is trying to get his breathing back to normal.

After Lily gets all the spit off of her face, she looks down at her boyfriend throwing punches and cursing at Sirius. She sighs heavily and pulls him back up to the bench. Lily is used to the Marauders’ weird behavior by now and is barely fazed by the strange things that happen in these boys’ company. 

“It’s okay, James,”� Lily says soothingly to the still steaming boy next to her. “If it makes you feel any better, I was completely disgusted by Sirius’ sore attempts at kissing and I enjoy your kisses ten million times more.”�

She finishes off with a soft lingering kiss to his lips. That seems to calm him right down and he visibly relaxes. 

Sirius gets up off of the ground and wipes off his robes. He sends a death glare over to the now thoroughly snogging couple and goes to sit next to Remus in quite the huff. The whistle to the Hogwarts Express blows signifying the arrival at King’s Cross. James and Lily are still completely oblivious to anything around them and are continuing in their fierce make-out session.  Sirius sends another disgusted look towards the busy Head students and turns away from them towards Remus.

“Well, I would say that Jamsie-boy overreacted a wee little bit, eh Moony. I mean, he didn’t have to get so violent. It wasn’t like I was _doing_ anything wrong or something. Yeesh. People these days.”�

“Yeah, Padfoot,”� Remus answers almost bored, “you weren’t doing anything wrong. You were just trying to make-out with James’ girlfriend. Totally understandable.”� “My point exactly!”�

 

**A/N** : Okay, kiddies! That would be numero uno! I was re-reading this before posting to check for mistakes, and I realize that, well, this is not very well written. I think–hopefully–that my writing has gotten better since the time I wrote this. These chapters will go up quickly because numbers one through eight are already written. I’m just going to check for mistakes before posting. I’d love any kind of feedback you can give me!


	2. Blushing and Suck-Ups

**A/N** : Okay my wonderful little elves, here it is. Chapter two. Woo hoo. Hey, that rhymes! Go me! The next installment in Snow Angels (insert really cheesy soap opera music). Two chapters in a night! Pretty Saweet. And I have ten million things I need to do for homework still. Doubly Saweet. *sigh* The more I read this, the more I am itching to rewrite some of it… but I will hold off on that until I actually finish the story completely. So, enjoy the show! Or something like that…. 

 

Chapter Two: **Blushing and Suck-ups**

            Snow.  Frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes. One of the most beautiful types of natural beauty that the earth offers. The reason for so many Christmas songs. It also happens to be the thing that has been lacking in England on Christmas day for the past twenty years. 

“It’s really not fair,”� Sirius complains as he gets off the Hogwarts Express, “It will either snow tonight and melt before Christmas, or it will snow on the twenty-sixth. What’s the point of snow on the twenty-sixth of December? Honestly, I don’t know what those clouds are thinking.”�

“Uh, Sirius, clouds don’t usually think. They just… go,”� Lily states as she also climbs down from the train.

“Well that makes sense,”� James starts as he too gets off the train, “That’s what Sirius does also.”�

Before Sirius could try to retaliate against his best friend, a scream was heard from the back of the express. All five seventh year Gryffindors look back and see red and green smoke coming out of the caboose of the train while all the younger students are running out of their compartments as fast as they can. 

“I don’t know why they’re running so fast,”� Sirius states matter-of-factly, “I made it so that the smoke from the dungbomb would smell like gingerbread. Merlin, kids these days. No holiday spirit, I’m telling ya.”�

He shakes his head disappointedly and turns to walk towards the throng of family and friends at the far end of the platform that are waiting for the students. Lily looks as though she is about to burst with indignation being Head Girl and all. James sees steam practically coming out of his girlfriend’s ears and puts his arm soothingly around her shoulders.

“It was just a harmless prank, Lils. He was trying to spread the holiday cheer.”�

“Yeah, well he could’ve spread it around by giving out Christmas cards or something equally safe and abiding to the rules.”�

“Aw c’mon Lily,”� Remus says while he picks up his trunk, “I know you want everyone to follow the rules, but this is Sirius we’re talking about here. Do you really think there is any way that he could follow the rules? I’m sure it took every bit of self-restraint to make the smoke smell good. Give him some credit.”�

Lily huffs slightly but shrugs it off… for now. She and James both say good-bye to Remus and Peter and watch as they depart towards the exit of the platform. Lily involuntarily sighs and goes to grab her own trunk. But before she could get to it, someone else takes it.

“Allow me, fair maiden. For someone as lovely and delicate as yourself cannot go and carry such heavy burdens. You may ruin your perfect, smooth hands and I cannot have that happening,”� James says in a very old-fashioned and snooty voice while bowing to the girl in front of him.

Lily simply smiles and shakes her head slightly at the antics of her boyfriend. She allows him to take her stuff and follows closely behind him. But she is not complaining, nope not at all. Because James Potter from the back is almost as nice as James Potter from the front. 

‘Must be all that Quidditch,’ Lily thinks to herself, ‘I guess sitting on that broom for so long really does work the muscles in your…’

“JAMES, DARLING!”�

Lily is immediately thrown from her very distracting reverie with the sounds of what seems like a very happy woman coming towards her. Lily looks up and sees who must be James’ mother if the way he dropped both the trunks he was carrying to embrace the tiny woman in front of him. Lily couldn’t help but admire how much James seems to really care for his mother. How could she have been so blind to the sweet, gentle, compassionate, loving, tender, affectionate, charming, kind, considerate, caring…

“Lily, I would like you to meet my mum, Catherine Potter. Mum, this is my Lily.”�

Lily looks up into a pair of eyes that she has now come to love dearer than anything else in the world. Catherine Potter is a short, slightly chubby woman with long chestnut brown hair. She also has the hazel orbs that were passed down to James. Lily cannot help but think that she is the most beautiful middle-aged woman she has ever seen.

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Potter,”� Lily says with a slight tremor in her voice, “I have heard such wonderful things about you.”�

Lily sticks out her hand to shake the woman’s in front of her, but instead finds herself being pulled into a warm hug.

“Oh my word,”� James’ mother murmurs in Lily’s hair, “You are even more beautiful than James described.”� 

Lily blushes slightly at this comment, but still returns the affectionate gesture. She notices that Mrs. Potter smells like fresh cut daisies and…wait. Pudding? Well, whatever it was, it was a very nice smell. Almost as good as her son’s… yum. Now that was something that Lily wouldn’t mind smelling twenty-four hours a day.

Mrs. Potter takes hold of Lily’s shoulders and puts her at an arm’s length away from her. 

“Oh my, you are just gorgeous aren’t you?”� she asks rhetorically. “James, you did not do this girl any justice at all. And I was thinking with the vivid and lengthy descriptions you gave in every letter since fourth year, mind you, that there was no way she could be any prettier. But I guess I was wrong. Oh dear! You are just simply darling!”�

With that Mrs. Potter takes Lily in another bone crushing hug and then releases her. Lily turns to look at James and finds that he’s… blushing. Blushing! _The_ James Potter is blushing. This is just too cute for Lily to bear. 

With a quick peck on the cheek to her boyfriend (she simply couldn’t resist. I mean, he is blushing for goodness sake!) Lily turns back to Mrs. Potter and says with more confidence now, “Well, Mrs. Potter, I can only hope that I someday look half as beautiful as you. James never mentioned how stunning you are.”�

“Cough! Suck-up! Cough!”�

With a simultaneous roll of the eyes, both James and Lily turn to see Sirius standing behind them. It seems that James is about to say something, but Mrs. Potter beats him to it.

“Why, Sirius Black, are you saying that I am _not_ beautiful?”�

This was the moment that Lily was given her first glimpse at the ever famous ice stare of death. And believe me, it is cold. Lily could have sworn that if Mrs. Potter would give that to the clouds then they would just start snowing from the below freezing temperatures given by her eyes. 

She lightly nudges James and whispers, “Is that the cold glare that you were telling me about?”�

James looks over at his mother and back to Lily. “No way. That is nothing compared to when she’s really upset. That’s more of a warning one. But barely.”�

Well, it was that moment that Lily decided that she never, ever wanted to see Mrs. Potter angry. But of course, it seems that Sirius is not affected by the icy glare his way at all and answers charmingly, “Of course, not my dearest kitty cat. You are by far the most beautiful, radiant, dazzling, brilliant, glowing woman I have ever laid eyes on. If I were only a few years older I would steal you from that ruffian that you call a husband and…”�

“What exactly _would_ you do, Sirius?”� comes a deep voice from behind the group.  “After, of course, you steal her from that evil ‘ruffian’ to whom she married.”�

Lily, James, and Sirius all turn around to see Mr. Potter standing behind them with a mischievous and rather amused twinkle in his eye that Lily knows only too well. Lily immediately sees the uncanny resemblance of James and his father. They are both tall, skinny, and devilishly handsome.  James certainly inherited his father’s messy black hair, and Lily tells herself to thank Mr. Potter later for giving his son the locks that she loves to run her fingers through. Even with Mr. Potter’s growing age, he still sends out the same youthful vibe that he most likely has his entire life. 

“Ah!”� Sirius bellows, “Just the man I wanted to see! The smartest, most talented, richest, and might I add, handsomest, man in the entire wizarding world!”�

“And you call Lily a suck-up, Padfoot?”� James asks with sarcasm evident in his voice. Sirius shrugs and gives Lily a sheepish smile. 

“So here she is!”� Mr. Potter exclaims as his attention diverts to the redheaded girl next to his son. “The girl I have been hearing about for the past seven years of my life. The person whom I’m sure I know more about than I know my own son! And might I say that he did not even begin to describe your beauty in all, and I mean _all_ of his letters?”� he continues as he gallantly kisses the top of Lily’s hand.

“Isn’t she just a doll, David?”� Mrs. Potter coos to her newly arrived husband.

“She certainly seems it,”� Mr. Potter answers with a kiss on the cheek to his wife. “And, Merlin! Look at our son! Blushing like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar!”�

Lily looks over to her boyfriend and finds that, yes; once again, James Potter is blushing on her behalf. She’ll have to remember to discuss, or _not_ discuss, this new trait with him later. 

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Mr. Potter,”� Lily says with a smile on her face. “It truly is a great honor to finally meet the man that many say will be the cornerstone of the future of the magical world.”�

Another cough that sounds much like ‘brown-noser’ could be heard behind Lily and the Potters, but everyone wisely chooses to ignore it.

“Pish posh,”� Mr. Potter waves off carelessly. “I am nothing but a humble auror simply trying my best to make the world my son and his children will live in safer.”�

“Oh, David,”� Mrs. Potter hits her husband on the arm exasperatedly, “We all know that you are going to end up saving more people, wizards and muggles alike, than the entire department put together.”�

“Yeah, dad,”� James continues with a smile on his face that shows the pride he feels for his father, “take the number that the department saved last year, times it by ten, and then you have the number of lives that will most likely be saved thanks to you in about three months.”�

“Honestly,”� Mr. Potter mutters, “I am nothing special.”� He then turns to Lily and says almost as though it is a secret, “This family of mine puts me on a pedestal that is not good for my ego, Miss Evans. I can only hope that you do not do the same for James.”�

“HA!”� Sirius barks after overhearing Mr. Potter’s statement. “Lily showering Prongs with compliments! The likeliness of that happening is the likeliness of me living in a cave and eating rats voluntarily.”�

“Oh, Sirius, I don’t know,”� Lily starts with an innocent voice, “that is something I can actually imagine happening. After all, you smell much like a rat already. And you know what they say, ‘you are what you eat!’”�

Mr. and Mrs. Potter laugh heartily at Lily’s quick-witted reply while Sirius simply scowls at the girl in front of him. James fondly squeezes his girlfriend’s side as he wraps his arm around her waist. Lily just smirks at Sirius and turns around to face the Potter’s with a warm smile gracing her features. 

“Well,”� Mr. Potter starts as he also wraps his arm around his wife, “I think it’s time to head out troops.”�

Sirius gets right into military character at the mention of ‘troops’ and clicks his heels together and salutes Mr. Potter. He then starts marching in place while chanting loudly and clearly “left, left, left right left.”� Everyone rolls their eyes in response to Sirius’s antics and attempt to ignore the crazy boy following them as they leave Platform 9 ¾ to what everyone believes should be a memorable Christmas holiday for all.


	3. Castles in the Sky

Disclaimer: Yeah. I wish.

Chapter Three: **Castles in the Sky**  


You would think that Lily would be prepared for what she would find to be the Potters’ home. After all, she knows that they are rich, famous, well-respected, pureblooded, and highly esteemed people. But nothing, and I mean _nothing_ could have prepared Lily for what is James Potter’s “humble home.”�

“Humble my arse,”� Lily mumbles under her breath as she rolls into the driveway of her boyfriend’s house. Oh wait, did I say house? I mean mansion. No, not a mansion. A castle. An effing castle. James Potter lives in a castle and he fails to mention that to his awe-struck girlfriend while calling it a ‘humble home.’

Lily’s jaw drops instantly the moment she catches a glimpse of the Potter estate. Troop Blevpo (Black, Evans, Potter), as Sirius now calls them, have been sitting in the back of a Ministry car for the past 2 ½ hours. And the entire way, Lily and James have had to suffer through Sirius’ constant, “SOS! SOS! May day! May day!”� (A/N: is that how you spell it?) and “We’re under attack! Take cover!”� and “General Potter, sir, do you believe we will reach our destination point of Camp Christmas at 1400 hours?”� Both head students couldn’t help but resent the older male Potter a little for making the mistake of mentioning _one_ military term earlier. 

But all thoughts of Sirius and the many ways she could harm him while he sleeps leave Lily as she sees the amazing place she will be spending the next four weeks of her life. The first thing that pops into Lily’s head is that it is straight out of a fairy tale. It is not as big as Hogwarts, not by a long shot, but it is certainly huge. It has at least four different towers that remind Lily of Rapunzel and Sleeping Beauty. The front doors alone, Lily gathers, are probably as big as her entire house back in Surrey. It is a true gothic beauty. The walls are made of smooth, gray stone and the windows are all large and striking in the way you could see the light reflecting off the slanted glass panes. To Lily, it was a dream to be in a place like this. A place where fairy tales no longer seem like fables and that magic naturally and truly exists. It was her haven.But like most people after they find their paradise, Lily was ripped from her dream world by Sirius Black literally jumping up and down in the back seat, over Lily and James’ laps, chanting “Here we are! Here we are! Are we here? Yes, we are!”� As you can imagine, after about twenty times of the same thing over and over and _over_ again, it becomes rather, well, annoying for lack of a better word. 

Which is why after the twenty-second time (Lily was counting)of Sirius chanting, Mrs. Potter finally turns around and gives Sirius ‘the look’ and says with much patience (although rather strained), Lily notices and can’t help but admire, “Sirius, if you mention the fact that we are here one more time, I promise you that you will never be able to even see this house from the outside again.”�

Sirius, with a surprising act of common sense, shuts up immediately, but still bounces slightly in his seat. Lily and James just give each other amused glances and shake their heads ruefully.

Lily goes back to looking out her window at the palace before her as they continue to drive up the very long driveway that Lily decides is the size of her entire street. Sensing that no one is paying attention to them, and Lily is completely distracted by his house, James sneakily scoots closer to his girlfriend. 

He can’t help but still be in complete awe that Lily is finally his to hold, kiss, snuggle, tease, cuddle and do other disgustingly sweet things with. He loves the feeling he gets when she smiles at him or holds his hand. He loves the way her eyes sparkle when she is feeling any emotion greatly. He loves that she sticks by her convictions no matter what other people think. He especially loves it when she calls him her ‘boyfriend’ and says it with an admiration that he never dreamed of associating Lily Evans as having when discussing him. He basically just loves her, even though he is desperately scared of telling her. He doesn’t want to lose the one girl who can make him feel more alive and happy than any other person he has ever met. 

So, as James scoots over, he places his arms around Lily’s waist and rests his head on her shoulder. It has always been so natural for them to do things like this. It has always felt like they fit together perfectly. There was no other way to describe how comfortable and at ease they both were when together. They just fit. Lily and James. James and Lily. It goes together as easily as peanut butter and jelly. It has always seemed almost as though it was meant to be with them; like they went through everything with each other to get to where they are now. And they are cherishing every moment that they have now as though it is just a dream and will float away. But they are doing everything to make sure they hold on and not let it go away. Because they cannot even imagine life without the other… which scares them both incredibly. 

Lily smiles slightly feeling her boyfriend’s arms around her. She leans back into his chest and sighs slightly. She breaths in his intoxicating scent and just revels in the fact that she will be spending her vacation at this dream house with her dream boy. She cannot believe that this is all real and is simply trying to grasp that everything seems so right in such a short period of time. 

“So, whatcha think, Lillers?”� James murmurs thickly against Lily’s neck as he gently places feather kisses at her pulse point. 

“Oh, James,”� Lily sighs yet again, “It’s absolutely breathtaking.”� She turns slightly so she could face the boy behind her better. “You never told me how amazing your home was. I think you secretly enjoy catching me off guard and making me look like a right fool,”� Lily admonishes as she playfully attempts to slap James on his shoulder.

But James’ reflexes are too fast for Lily, and he grabs her hand before she can make contact with his cloak. He brings Lily’s now captive hand to his mouth without losing eye contact with the green-eyed beauty and lightly and reverently kisses each fingertip. Lily loses her breath with the care and veneration that James uses while holding her hand. After kissing her pinky, James refuses to let go of her hand and rubs his hand against hers in a way that relaxes Lily immediately. She closes her yes involuntarily and slowly and deeply sighs as her shoulders slump slightly. 

Still holding her hand, James dips his head to Lily’s ear and whispers, “It’s no secret, love, that I like making you seem a fool.”�

The spell that was cast is broken in what seems like an instant and Lily rips her hand from her boyfriend’s and gives him her own death glare. It doesn’t have the desired affect, however, and James just chuckles slightly at his girlfriend’s reaction. He grabs her hand again and pulls her close to him. Lily half-heartily fights him off, but eventually just gives into James’ warmth.

James whispers just loud enough for her to hear, “But you look absolutely beautiful when you are all flustered, so can you really blame me?”�

Lily looks into his boyish face and sees nothing but complete seriousness and sincerity there. There was really nothing she could do other than lean up and slowly close the gap between their lips until they finally…

“Okay, kiddos. We’re here!”� comes Mr. Potter’s jolly voice from the front seat, as the car slows to a stop. James and Lily grudgingly pull apart and start to get out of the car in an infinitely worse mood than they had earlier. Sirius is already outside running around the house, seemingly making sure that everything is the way it was last time he was here. Lily is still in complete awe of the building before her. It is even more amazing up close. James smiles at Lily’s look of incredulity and moves to place his arm around her when Sirius bounds over and stands between the two head students. James sends his best friend a glare that would make his mother proud.

“Well, Jimmy-boy, here we are again! Back at the good ol’ Potter Palace, eh? Imagine what this vacation will bring! Imagine all the new pranks we can pull! I have this great idea for your little pollen-head over there which is a lot like that prank we were _going_ to pull two months ago on old Snivelly before we were so rudely interrupted, and it still includes the vanilla pudding, but this time we will use bleach instead of fabric softener and...”�

“You know, Sirius, this ‘pollen-head’ can hear every single word you are saying. I am, after all, standing right next to you,”� Lily says exasperatedly. 

“Oh, uh, right. I knew that!”� Sirius exclaims rather defensively. “It was part of the plan all along, Lilykins. I wanted you to think that we were going to do that to you when we were really going to do something else, see!”�

Lily smiles rather fondly at Sirius’ sore attempts of an excuse and pats his arm sympathetically. “It’s okay, Sirius. I still think you are the ‘master of pranking’ and ‘king of mischief.’”�

Sirius smiles broadly and drapes his left arm around Lily’s shoulders. He turns to James who, by this time, is trying very hard not to burst out in laughter, and says, “I knew I liked this one, Prongsie. She’s really quite smart. You know, I think I may just take her for myself!”�

And with that, Sirius in an attempt to be gallant, throws Lily rather unceremoniously over his shoulder and runs her up the large and many steps to the front door of the Potter home. James is shook out of his shock by Lily’s squeals of indignation and hidden enjoyment and amusement and runs up after his best friend and girlfriend. 

Because James does not have the extra weight of another person, he reaches them half way up the front stairs and retrieves his girlfriend from the clutches of his crazy friend. He puts Lily down and steadies her, because she looks rather out of sorts from being practically thrown about by Sirius Black. He places a short kiss on her lips and continues on his chase after Sirius. Lily shakes her head slightly at the boys and turns to go get her remaining belongings, but sees them to be gone already.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter come up next to her, look in the direction of her gaze, and tell her that the house elves took care of it. She nods as though she knows what they are talking about and follows them to the front of the house. Mr. Potter opens the front doors with much flourish and exaggeratingly leads his wife and Lily in. 

“Welcome, Miss Evans, to our home.”� 

Lily has to catch her breath the moment she sees the inside of the house. If she thought the outside was beautiful, she had no words to describe the inside. It was breathtakingly gorgeous and Lily couldn’t help but drink in all of its beauty and grandeur. It is furnished in all warm, inviting colors of dark reds and golds. There is a large, crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling which illuminates the entire front room. Lily cannot believe that such a place exists in the world. 

She is thrown from her thoughts at the sound of the thumping of footsteps from above her head. She looks up at the same time that Mr. and Mrs. Potter also glance upwards. 

“They surely didn’t waste any time,”� Mrs. Potter clucks from beside her husband.

“Well, you saw what Sirius did, Cat,”� Mr. Potter responds to his wife. “James is simply fighting for Lily’s honor.”� He sends a warm smile towards the redhead in the room.

Lily blushes slightly at the topic of discussion. She sees Mrs. Potter smile fondly and say almost to herself, “He really does care about her, doesn’t he?”�

Lily turns another shade of red and turns her head to hide it from her hosts. At that moment, James and Sirius come bounding down the staircase to Lily’s direct left and see the three people in the foyer. They both grin sheepishly and shrug their shoulders. 

“Honestly, James!”� Mrs. Potter exclaims immediately. “You would think that you’d show some more self-restraint seeing as Lily is here this year, but no! You still act as though you are a nine year old boy!”�

“But mum…”� James starts before he is cut off by his mother again.

“Can’t you act with a little more maturity, young man? And in front of your girlfriend, no less! It’s a wonder to me why she puts up with you!”� Here, James puts his head down in shame and embarrassment. “And you, Sirius!”� Mrs. Potter continues, “Acting like an animal throwing Lily over your shoulder and running off with her! What is going through your head? What is going through both of your heads?!?”� With an angry groan, Mrs. Potter stomps out of the room and into, what Lily can only guess, is the kitchen.

By this time, both boys’ heads were bent in humiliation. Lily couldn’t get over how these boys were yelled at on a daily basis by every teacher at Hogwarts for their antics and never seem affected in the least, are here with just two words from Mrs. Potter in a feeling of great shame. 

Lily shifts her feet uncomfortably and chances a look at Mr. Potter. He seems like he’s on the brink of laughing at the look on James and Sirius’ faces. He clears his throat loudly and both boys look up at the older Potter. Mr. Potter winks at Lily, and then turns to the boys.

“I hope you have learned your lesson,”� he starts in what Lily guesses is supposed to be an authoritative voice. He then takes two steps towards the guilty party and whispers almost secretively, “And that is not to let your mother catch you whilst fighting, hm?”� 

James and Sirius both smile at Mr. Potter appreciatively and nod their heads. Mr. Potter nods his head and pats both boys on the back. He takes a step back and straightens his robe. He continues in the voice he started out with, “So if it happens again, know that the punishment will be great. Mark my words, boys!”� 

They all share a smile and Mr. Potter starts in the way his wife departed just moments before. That leaves Lily, James, and Sirius in the foyer in silence.

Sirius, of course, is the first one to break it, and says to James, “Your dad is bloody brilliant, you know.”� James moves over to Lily, puts his arm around her, and looks in the way his dad just left. “Yeah, I know.”�


	4. Flower Power

Disclaimer: Um. No, Not even close.

Chapter Four: **Flower Power**  


Lily looks at herself in the mirror of the bathroom attached to her room. Yes, there is a bathroom attached to her room. Lily has never in her entire life had the privilege of her own bathroom. At home, she always has to share with Petunia. From first to sixth year, Lily shared with her other roommates. And this year, Lily has had to share a bathroom with James in the Head Students Headquarters. Professor Dumbledore found it hilarious that it is the 'head'quarters of the 'Head' students, so he had it officially named that. Strange man, that Albus Dumbledore.

But Lily has to admit that having her own bathroom, although she has only been in possession of one for three hours, is one of the nicest things she has ever had. The ability to go in there whenever she wants and do whatever she wants in there without the nagging feeling in the back of her head that someone might need to use it ina matter of minutes was liberating for the seventeen year old girl. She felt free in a way. It was rather nice.

So Lily takes her time prepping herself for her first night at thePotter estate. After showing Lily to her room (and a quick snog), James informed Lily that they were to attend dinner at seven o'clock in the Ruby dining room. Lily had no idea where this was, seeing as Jamesdid not have the time to give her the full tour, so James agreed readily to meet her at her room at 6:55. 

Itis now 6:49 and Lily is adding the finishing touch to her appearance. She wants to look presentableand impressJames' parents as much as she can. She has always been a firm believer that second impressions are even more important than the first.  She choseher most flatteringflowing skirt with a white peasant top. She put a scarf on her head to hold back her hair and let her red locks flow down her backin soft, easy curls.

"I look like a hippie,"Lilythinks the moment she takes a look at herself in the full body mirror. 

“But a very, very cute hippie,”� comes the voice of James Potter from Lily’s now ajar door. She looks over and sees that he is leaning on the doorjamb with a look of admiration and amusement evident in his eyes. 

Lily huffs faintly and feels a growing annoyance for her boyfriend being in her room without her consent.

“Ever heard of knocking, Potter? It’s all the rage these days when doors are closed,”� Lily asks with sarcasm lacing every syllable.

James smiles slightly at Lily’s growing anger and answers nonchalantly as he starts walking into the room, “Well, _Evans_ , I felt, seeing as it is time to head down to dinner, that I should make sure you were alright. Especially because I _did_ knock numerous times without an answer. Can you blame a man for being worried about his girlfriend?”� James finishes with a shadow of a pout on his lips.

“A man!”� Lily exclaims with a very unladylike snort, “Since when did you become a man, James. Last time I checked you were simply an immature and rather annoying boy with his head in the clouds all the time.”�

“Well,”� James starts as he moves closer to Lily and the twinkle in his eye becomes more and more clear, “if I am not a man, Miss Evans, what is your explanation for this.”�

And with that, James swiftly sweeps down on his otherwise distracted girlfriend, and gives her a fleeting kiss that leaves her legs feeling like pudding, her heart beating at abnormal speeds, her head light and dizzy, and her lungs unable to receive the proper amount of oxygen.

When Lily finally opens her eyes, she’s met by two pools of gold and green that drown her with feeling. By the time she is finally capable of thinking and functioning properly, Lily realizes that those pools are full of mirth and mischief and that there is a deep rumble of laughter filling the room.

With this insight, Lily quickly disentangles herself from James’ arms and gives him a reproving look. He simply smiles charmingly (that stupid smile) and puts his arms back around the angry girl. Lily, not wanting to give into James right away, stiffens in his hold and refuses to look at him. 

“Lily, Lily, Lily,”� James tuts quietly in her ear, “Now, what was that about me not being a man?”�

Lily continues to refuse looking at James in the eye and she stays silent. James gives a chuckle that Lily couldn’t hear, but she instead felt it throughout her body. 

_I am not going to let that prat of a boyfriend win this time,_ Lily thinks heatedly. _No matter how nice his arms are or how yummy he smells or how broad his shoulders are… wow. They really are quite broad. I never really noticed how…_

Lily is immediately thrown from every thought by another one of those feverish, heart-stopping kisses that Lily is almost certain James has perfected. 

“Fine,”� Lily nods breathlessly and grudgingly, “you are most definitely a man.”�

“So glad you think so, Flower,”� James responds through semi-swollen lips. Of course, Lily just _had_ to go and pick the boy with the most irresistible lips as a boyfriend. She was about to take advantage of those scrumptious lips when a yapping from the staircase enters Lily’s room.

“Will you two bloody love bugs untangle your limbs and remove your lips from each other for one bloody minute and come down to bloody dinner so I can ruddy eat already?”�

Both Lily and James sigh simultaneously and back away from each other. Lily turns back to her mirror to straighten out her now partially disheveled clothes and reapply her lip-gloss. James just looks on affectionately as his girlfriend attempts, and seemingly succeeds, to look perfect for his parents. It still blows him away that Lily is his to call his own. 

“Lils, you look beautiful,”� he coaxes. 

“I say I still look like a hippie,”� Lily sulks. “Now your parents are going to think that I smoke all the time and practice free love for everyone. What will they say?”�             “Well,”� James starts as he practically drags the redhead from her mirror, “My mum will probably try to help you, and my dad will probably say something along the lines of ‘Good on you, James!’”� 

The sound of “JAMES POTTER!”� yelled on the upstairs corridor would be the official start of Lily’s first night at James Potter’s house. Ah, and what a stay it will be.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Lily, dear, that skirt looks simply adorable on you,”� Mrs. Potter coos for what seems like the hundredth time that night. Lily smiles politely at the older woman while every man in the room rolls their eyes. It seems that Mrs. Potter had gotten over her little tiff with the boys, and was now as gentile and sweet as she was when Lily first met her.

They were all now eating dessert in the third dining area. Yes, third. Apparently there were five different _formal_ dining places (this did not include where the family eats when they do not have company or on special occasions) in the Potter house and this was everyone’s favorite. It, according to Mrs. Potter, gives off a ‘homey feel.’ 

Well, Lily would have to agree if ‘homey’ means a glass table that is long enough to be an Olympic swimming pool, gold Victorian doors, a crystal chandelier (how many chandeliers are in this place?), marble floors, and gold wicker chairs with rubies encrusted in the seats. Lily realizes that the room is named after this feature but… in the seats! What is the point of having rubies underneath your arse! No one is going to be able to appreciate the precious stone except for your bottom! Honestly.

After the initial shock of the room, Lily relaxed with the surprising welcoming atmosphere that she feels in this place. She deduced that it must be the people that are making her feel so at ease. They enjoyed a delicious meal consisting of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. Lily found that she was able to talk to her hosts very easily and practically carelessly. It also helped that James sat next to her and constantly squeezed her hand for reassurance. 

They were all now eating some mouth-watering chocolate cake with chocolate frosting by the roaring fire (oh, did I forget to mention that there was a large marble fireplace that matched the floors, also? Must’ve slipped my mind). Up to this point, everything has been smooth sailing for Lily. She is having a very good time and it seems that the Potters are also. But, of course, things can only stay normal and hazardless for so long when Sirius Black is in your company.

Sirius has been strangely quiet the whole meal. During dinner, he would all of a sudden look at Lily with a contemplative look on his face and then continue to eat once anyone noticed his glance. While this made Lily feel slightly uncomfortable, she shrugged it off and continued on whatever topic of discussion she was talking about.

But, now, Lily simply could no longer ignore Sirius’ constant looks her way. With a final swallow of chocolate goodness, she excuses herself from the room and grabs Sirius’ arm on the way out. Sirius, in his own world (somewhere that would be a nice place to vacation to, no?), does not realize that Lily is leaving and starts choking on his cake once Lily gets hold of him.  

Lily ignores Sirius’ coughing and spitting and continues dragging him towards the doors. She doesn’t even register the odd looks the Potters have and the highly amused look her boyfriend gives her as she leaves the room. The last thing she hears is Mr. Potter’s voice, “Are you sure she’s stable enough to be Head Girl, James?”�

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lily blindly drags Sirius down the empty corridors of James’ house. She has no idea where she is or where she is going. She continues to ignore all of Sirius’ protests and once she is simply sick and tired of his stupid whining, throws him into the next room she sees. 

It, of course, turns out to be another beautifully furnished room. But this one is different from all the others. Something that Lily is too agitated and annoyed to notice.“Sirius, why the bloody hell were you staring at me all dinner?”� Lily asks the minute she closes the door.

Sirius looks down at the floor avoiding Lily’s gaze and mumbles something incoherently under his breath.  

“What was that, Black?”� Lily snaps at the handsome boy in front of her. “I didn’t quite catch it.”�             “I wanted to tell you,”� Sirius starts quietly, “you know, that I, well, uh, what I mean to say is that I, um, well…”�             “Spit it out!”�

“I KNOW!”� Sirius explodes. Lily looks at him incredulously and raises one eyebrow gracefully. She tilts her head to the side and asks almost cautiously like she’s afraid of the answer, “What exactly do you know, Sirius?”�

Sirius again looks down at the ground, but after a minute of silence looks back into Lily’s eyes and whispers, “I know who you are.”�

“And who,”� Lily starts, “am I, exactly.”�

“C’mon, Lily. I don’t have to spell it out for you.”�

 “Uh, I think you do Sirius, because I have no idea what the bloody hell you are…”�

“YOU’RE ONE OF THOSE FLOWER CHILDREN!”�

Lily’s face becomes completely blank. She blinks once, twice. Three times and her face is still frozen in astonishment.

Once she found her voice again, she whispers dangerously, “I’m a _what_?”�

Sirius kicks his shoe on the gorgeous floor. If Lily was in her right mind she probably would have yelled at him for smudging the floor but she is far too dumbfounded to think of the floor. 

“You know, Lils,”� Sirius starts. “You’re one of those hippie muggles. The ones that go off to stock wood and breathe in flowers all day and listen to that woman, what’s her name… Joplo? No, that’s not it. Joponto? No, that’s not right either…”�

“Joplin,”� Lily says disbelievingly, “Janis Joplin.”�

“That’s it!”� Sirius exclaims. But then he becomes somber again and bows his head like the way he did earlier when Mrs. Potter yelled at him. “And I also know about, you know, the, uh, well, _sexual_ practices of you people.”� Seeing Lily’s face become redder and redder with anger he quickly continues, “Not that it’s a bad thing! I mean, if you weren’t my best mate’s girl, I’d probably have a go at you… Just kidding, Lils! Just kidding!”� Sirius, instead of calming Lily down, only succeeds in making her angrier by the minute.

“And what,”� Lily begins in what she thinks is a very patient and calm voice for her situation, “brought you to this conclusion, Sirius?”�

“Well, you aren’t exactly hiding it, Bean,”� Sirius answers using his old nickname for the redhead to try and soften the blow. “I mean, look at your clothes.”� At this, Lily looks down at her skirt and peasant top. “And your name certainly makes sense now. I mean, I bet you chose it as a codename or something so fellow ‘flower people’ would know you were one of them.”� At this Lily’s knuckles become the color of the snow that is lacking in England at the moment. 

“And then all your anger problems make sense to me now,”� Sirius continues completely unfazed by the boiling teen girl in front of him, “I have heard that anger is a major side-effect of withdrawal from, well, _you know,_ ”� Sirius says almost surreptitiously. “Your,”� here he looks to the right and left like someone might be listening to their conversation, “drugs.”�

Lily takes five deep breaths and keeps telling herself over and over, _He’s James’ best mate, he’s James’ best mate, he’s James’_ bloody _best mate…_

Then Sirius goes in for the kill. His voice drops a few octaves and he says to Lily, still completely oblivious to the anger he was creating, “You should really tell James about your sexual background though, Lils. I’m sure he’s going to want to know how many blokes you’ve been with. After all, you may have gotten a disease or something.”�

Lily looks up at Sirius for the first time since he started his rant and smiles. “Sirius,”� she starts in a sickeningly sweet voice. Sirius nods his head in acknowledgment. “You have until the count of five to get out of this room before I will slowly take every single limb off of your body, understood?”�

Sirius, although he’s not the brightest light in the bulb, doesn’t waste a minute and dashes out of that room before you could say “Flower Power.”�

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Lily eventually finds her way back to the dining room (after finding two of the other five in the process) and finds that James is the only one left in the room. He looks up as she enters and smiles charmingly at his girlfriend. He stands up and walks towards her.

“Where did everyone go?”� Lily asks as James takes hold of her hands and starts playing with her fingers absentmindedly. 

“Well, after you, uh, _escorted_ Sirius from the room, my parents decided that it was time for bed and I waited here for you. Of course, while I was waiting, a good friend of mine stopped by with a crazy look of fear in his eye and said something about “looking out for crazy flower heads who are _supposed_ to be all about peace and love.”� Do you know anything about that, love?”�

Lily smiles up at the messy-haired boy and lolls her head slightly to the side. She smiles coquettishly and responds in an innocent voice, “I have no idea what you are talking about, Mr. Potter. Your friend must obviously be rather disturbed in the head.”�

James laughs and holds Lily closer to his body. She sighs into her boyfriend and absorbs everything about him. James places his chin on Lily’s head and just holds her until Mrs. Potter comes down in her nightgown and tells the two teens to go to bed. 

With a goodnight kiss, Lily heads into her room, prepares for bed, and goes to sleep dreaming of a sparkle-eyed boy and a Christmas vacation that has only started.

-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

_No, don’t go!_

_I have to, Lily. There is no other choice._

_I can’t let you go. I need you with me. Don’t do this!_

_Lily, this is the only way. There is no other option._

_But I love you._

_I love you, too. So much. And that is why I have to do this._

_No! Don’t go! James!!!_

Lily sits up in bed breathing heavily and going over the dream that is slowly slipping from her brain like water in your hands. Lily shakes her head and convinces herself it was nothing. Just as she is about to surrender back to her dreams, a scream comes from somewhere in the house.

“David! Look out!”�

 

**A/N** : Semi-cliffhanger! WOO HOO! My first one. Ain’t ya’ll proud. There may actually be some serious stuff in this story! Who knew? Anyways I’m looking forward to your feedback! Until then, TOODLES!  


	5. Finding New Truths

**Disclaimer** : Blackbird singing in the dead of night take these broken wings and learn to fly… oh sorry. I was singing. I still don’t own anything. I also do not own that song. That belongs to the genius Beatles.

  
**Recap** :

Lily sits up in bed breathing heavily and going over the dream that is slowly slipping from her brain like water in your hands. Lily shakes her head and convinces herself it was nothing. Just as she is about to surrender back to her dreams, a scream comes from somewhere in the house.

“David! Look out!”�

Chapter Five: **Finding New Truths**

The moment that Lily hears Mrs. Potter’s shrieks, she jumps out of bed and flies to the door. By the time she reaches for the knob, she swears at herself when she realizes she forgot her wand. She clumsily rushes back to her bedside table, grabs her wand and then again turns to the door. This time, though, there is something tall, muscular, and warm standing in her way.

“James!”� Lily exclaims in relief once she recognizes her boyfriend. 

“Lily, are you alright? No one has come in here, right? You aren’t hurt are you? I swear to Merlin, if you are hurt anywhere, I’ll…”�

“James, I’m fine!”� Lily interrupts the frantic boy in front of her. She inwardly curses James for not taking the time to put on a shirt, because the sight of his bare chest was clouding her already frenzied mind.

“Thank Merlin,”� James says. 

“Not that I’m complaining, James,”� Lily starts, “but shouldn’t we go downstairs to see what’s going on?”�

“Right, right!”� James exclaims as though he is just realizing where he is and what is going on. He grabs Lily’s arm and pulls her out of her room at record speeds.

“James,”� Lily whispers harshly at the quick moving teen before her, “shouldn’t we be more, well, quiet?”�

“Right, Lils. You’re right. I’m sorry; it’s just that… well. I’m pretty nervous,”� James stutters out as he comes to a stop. Lily slightly bumps into James’ back because he stopped so suddenly and she is met with the lovely familiar scent of James. 

“What if something happened to my mum and dad and I won’t get to them in time. And if I get to them in time, am I ready to risk my life, and yours, for my parents and if…”�

James is cut off this time, not by Lily, but by a loud crashing sound coming from the top of the staircase. James pulls Lily behind him instinctively and draws forth his wand. He can feel Lily trembling slightly behind him against his back and it does nothing to soften his nerves. 

“James,”� Lily breathes out in fear.

“Lily, if I tell you to run, you run. Understand?”� James mutters beneath his breath just loud enough for Lily to hear. 

“I’m not leaving you,”� Lily responds with more courage. She is almost positive that she heard ‘bloody stubborn witch’ coming from her boyfriend, but wisely chooses to ignore it.

It seems like hours before the sounds of footsteps come right before them.  Lily impulsively grabs hold of James’ left hand and holds it tight. The steps become closer and closer and with every impending stride the teens’ breathing becomes faster and hollower. James squeezes Lily’s hand and prepares to fight when the final step draws near when…

“What the bloody hell is all the ruckus about? It’s two o’clock in the ruddy morning!”�

James and Lily sigh at the same time in relief and annoyance at the disheveled Sirius Black before them.

“Sirius, what the hell do you think you are doing?”� James harshly asks his best friend with anger lacing every whispered word.

“Well,”� Sirius answers mid yawn, “I was sleeping quite peacefully when all of a sudden I hear some kind of scream or something. I, obviously, just thought it was part of my dream because, well, I often hear women screaming in my dreams,”� at this statement both Head students shudder involuntarily, “but I realized that this scream was more in nervousness and anxiety when I am much more used to shrieks of pleasure and ecstasy…”�

“Alright, Sirius. We understand,”� Lily cuts him off harshly. Sirius nods his head and continues in his drawling, sleepy voice, “Anyways, I decided to come down and investigate when I heard you two pansies bounding down the stairs like it was a bloody parade.”�

James and Lily share a glance, roll their eyes and turn back to investigate James’ mother’s scream. Sirius groggily follows behind them as they quietly and quickly make their way to the bottom of the stairs. After looking around cautiously for any signs of distress, the three teens make their way towards the foyer. They enter the exquisite welcoming hall and look around for any kind of movement. It is pitch black in the hallway and there are eerie shadows playing their way against the maroon walls. The chandelier sways back and forth making a strange sound. The winter wind howls from outside sending shivers through the wizards. All in all, it is not a very comfortable situation for anyone.

They stand there, not moving for some time before Sirius pipes up and asks rather cautiously, “Well, uh, should we split up or something?”�

James looks skeptical and takes a glimpse at his girlfriend. She is looking around the unfamiliar room with fear evident in her green orbs. James notices that Lily’s hands are shaking slightly even though she is trying to hide them at her sides. Lily senses James’ glance her way and turns to meet his penetrating gaze. The left side of her mouth hitches up in a sorry attempt at a smile. James, however, sees right through her stab at nonchalance. His heart lurches with compassion and concern for Lily and he brushes off Sirius’ idea.

“I think it would be best if we stick together; safer that way, mate,”� James responds. He catches Lily give him a look of appreciation and relief. Sirius looks as if he doesn’t care either way and just takes a step towards the kitchen with his wand at the ready. James follows closely behind him with Lily close at his tail. They are just about to enter the kitchen when they hear a loud groan from the living room at the reverse end of the foyer. They all turn back to the opposite door and glance at each other warily. 

“Prongs, didn’t that sound like…”�

“My dad,”� James finishes in a voice devoid of any emotion.

 Before another word could be uttered, James pushes past Lily and rushes for the large mahogany door across the room.

“James, wait!”� Lily calls after the running boy. But James ignores Lily’s protests and pushes the doors open. By this time, Lily and Sirius both made their way to the living room and are right behind James. They, however, are hidden by James’ large body to the scene taking place in the large room. 

“Oh, Merlin!”� James exclaims the second he sees the sight before him. Sirius, hearing his friend’s cry, pushes James out of the way and sees Mr. Potter fighting with a large figure covered in shadow. Suspecting the worse, Sirius shouts at the top of his lungs, “Incendio!”� sending flames to the shadowed outline. 

Mrs. Potter screams again when she sees the fire taking over her luxurious living area. Mr. Potter jumps back in surprise and pain when he is thrown by the impending blaze. James pushes Sirius back and sends jets of water towards the inferno. Once the fire dies down, Lily peeks into the room to see a charred Evergreen tree standing limply in the center of the room. 

She turns to look at all the people involved in this mess. Mrs. Potter is standing off to the side holding tinsel in one hand and holding her chest in surprise and horror with the other. Mr. Potter is nursing his burnt arm and looking at his son and Sirius as though they are aliens from another planet. Sirius looks confused and out of it, so nothing new there. And James just looks down right incredulous to the whole situation. 

“A Christmas tree,”� The messy-haired boy starts in an unbelieving voice, “A bloody Christmas tree. That’s what all this mess was about? A bloody decoration?”�

“James Daniel, mind your language young man,”� Mrs. Potter admonishes from across the now semi-charred room while placing the gold adornment she was holding on a large navy armchair. The older woman seems to slowly begin to regain her composure as the seconds tick away.

Mr. Potter, however, still has a look of absolute shock and disbelief on his handsome aging face. His eyes are wide and his mouth slightly agape.  He looks from his son to the blackened tree to his wife to Sirius’ wand and back to the tree. He opens his mouth as though he is going to say something but closes it before words are spoken.

Then from nowhere, the sound of laughter fills the room. Everyone turns to see Mrs. Potter clutching her stomach from laughing so hard. She is looking at her husband and pointing at the tree unable to control her amusement.  Everyone looks at her with disbelief at the way she is reacting to the whole situation. They all thought that Mrs. Potter would freak out at the damage done to one of her favorite rooms. But, no, instead she is now sitting on the navy armchair with gold garland underneath her, still giggling hysterically. 

“I’m sorry,”� Mrs. Potter starts in between chuckles, “But the look on all of your faces is simply _priceless_ ,”� she finishes in a breathy voice. 

With a shake of the head, Mr. Potter joins in with the laughter. He looks at the burned tree next to him and laughs even harder. He soon joins his wife on the large chair and holds onto her for support. They exchange a look and start laughing even harder still.

James watches his parents with amusement and astonishment clear on his face. He, unable to contain himself any longer, also starts laughing with great mirth. He shakes his head and looks around the now damaged room. This just causes him to laugh even harder and he has to hold onto the frame of the door to stay standing.

Sirius looks at the Potters with a raised eyebrow. He looks at the mess that he mostly caused and wonders why it is so funny that he burnt a tree. Oh well, Sirius thinks, might as well join in with the festivities.  With that, Sirius starts barking with hilarity and running around the room to each occupant. 

Lily shifts her feet uncomfortably on the rug while witnessing the scene before her. She is in a gorgeous room with four beautiful, smart, and influential people who are laughing uncontrollably about a fire taking place mere minute before. All of a sudden, Lily feels very out of place; like she doesn’t belong here. Everything here is so beautiful and big and out of control. From the outside of the house to her bedroom to Mr. and Mrs. Potter and James even to the burnt Evergreen. Everything is so unlike her. She looks down at her bare feet. She notices that even her feet are boring; no polish on her nails or anklets or rings on her toes. While everyone else is too busy with the chaos and laughter surrounding them, Lily realizes that she is uninteresting and dull comparatively to life at the Potter mansion. She feels very small all of a sudden.

While Lily is deep in her thoughts, James comes over to his girlfriend with a big smile on his face and pulls her to his side. She looks up at his smiling face and smiles reassuringly at him with a slight chuckle. James, not realizing how forced Lily’s face looks, squeezes her to him and turns back to his now more controlled parents.

“Mum, dad, what is going on?”� James asks his still smiling parents.

“Well,”� Mr. Potter starts because it still seems that his wife is unable to communicate properly, “Your mother and I decided that it would be a nice surprise for you kids to get up tomorrow and have a nice Christmas themed room to yourselves. The house elves offered to help, but we both thought that it would be nice if we did it ourselves so it would be more personal. So we’ve been down here for the past hour or so trying to get this infernal tree up and decorate the rest of the room before you kids woke up. But, I think Sirius had other plans for the room,”� he finishes with a chuckle.

Sirius blushes slightly at the comment and shrugs his shoulders. “I thought you were being attacked, Davie. I had to protect you from the evil beast,”� Sirius states in a tone that says ‘obviously.’

James shakes his head at his best friend and turns back to his parents. “We all heard mum scream for you to ‘look out’ so we assumed the worst. When we reached the foyer, we all heard you groan from in here, so we rushed in. Sirius, being, well, Sirius, jumped to the conclusion that you were being attacked and well, here we are.”�

James’ mother laughs, stands up, and walks towards Sirius. Sirius cowers slightly thinking that he was going to get smacked or something, but instead Mrs. Potter engulfs him in a big bear hug. 

“Oh, Siri,”� Mrs. Potter coos, “you are so sweet to want to protect David and me.”� She kisses him on the cheek and Sirius blushes with the look James sends him over the older woman’s head.

But, embarrassed or not, Sirius quickly regains his composure and swiftly kisses Mrs. Potter’s cheek in return and bows graciously to her. “Anything for you, my dearest Kitty Cat.”�

“Padfoot, stop hitting on my mum,”� James calls disgustingly from the doorway. 

“I’ll stop hitting on your mum when you and flower-face stop making kissy noises in front of me. I have virgin eyes, you know!”�

“Yeah, about the only part of you that is a virgin, right Sirius? And the only reason for that is that you can’t watch yourself while you…”�

“James!”� Lily exclaims while she clamps her hand over her boyfriend’s mouth. He grins under her fingers and gently kisses each one. Lily rolls her eyes at James’ move and takes her hand away from his mouth.

“Honestly, James,”� Lily scolds quietly, “your parents are in the room.”�

“They don’t mind,”� James responds, “do you mum and dad?”�

At the mention of the adults Lily turns to them and turns at least five different shades of red when she realizes they are both watching the couple. Mrs. Potter has a serene smile on her face and a dreamy look in her eyes. Mr. Potter has a somewhat cocky grin on his face, much like the one that Lily sees on James so much.

“Not at all, dears,”� Mrs. Potter replies in a wistful voice. “Imagine we aren’t even here.”�

“Yes, son, don’t mind us at all. Keep up everything I taught you,”� Mr. Potter answers with a less than subtle wink in the direction of James.

Lily, once again, blushes deeply at the Potters’ responses and gets out of James’ arms. She doesn’t notice the rather disappointed look her boyfriend sends her when she moves farther out of his grasp.

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I am very tired,”� Lily says quickly from her new spot in the room. She cannot think of a more uncomfortable place to be in at the moment. With her being as inadequate as she now feels and the curious eyes of all people in the room, Lily feels rather hot and dizzy.

“Yes, I must agree, dear,”� Mrs. Potter says noticing Lily’s discomfort. “Time for bed, everyone.”�

“But, Cat, what about the tree?”� Mr. Potter asks his wife.

“I think the house elves can take care of it and I’m sure the children won’t mind that it was personally done by us, will you?”� Mrs. Potter answers her husband, but directing the last part at the three teens in the room.

They all simultaneously shake their heads ‘no’ and start to head out of the room smelling of fire. They say goodnight to James’ parents accordingly and head towards the staircase in the foyer while the adults go to another staircase closer to the kitchen. 

James, Lily, and Sirius all head up the stairs silently feeling awkwardness and tension that is usually never present around them. Lily’s room is first to appear on the way upstairs. She turns to the boys and smiles slightly.

“Well, goodnight boys,”� she murmurs softly. Sirius nods his head in recognition and continues up the stairs. James, however, grabs Lily’s hand and starts tracing every line in her palm with his index finger. He doesn’t look into her face, but instead focuses mainly on her hand.

Lily, feeling James’ apprehension, brings his hand that is holding hers to her cheek and James’ face follows. She smiles reassuringly to him and leans up and kisses his lips tenderly. She breaks away, all of a sudden out of breath, and looks up at James. She finds him to still have his eyes closed and smiling slightly. Lily smiles at the serene face of her boyfriend and squeezes his hand that she is still holding. He opens his eyes and smiles at the redhead in front of him.

_Tell her that you love her. Now is the perfect moment,_ James hears in his head over and over again. But he finds that he can’t even open his mouth in fear that this moment will be broken.

Lily brings James’ hand to her mouth, kisses it softly, and drops it back to his side. She whispers ‘goodnight’ again and enters her room slowly. With one last glance at James, Lily closes her door quietly.

With the click of Lily’s door closing, James snaps back to earth from the place which he calls “Lilyland.”� He shakes his head and smiles at the closed door.

“Good-night, Flower,”� James whispers in the silent staircase. He turns back to head to his room, but looks back at Lily’s door one last time before he takes a step.

“I love you.”�


End file.
